Hatches Were Battened Down

We battened down the hatches this past weekend in order to get ready for Hurricane Sandy.  Al and Bryce took every precaution they could to take care of our family and the house.  I'm happy to report that all is well here.  We are without power but we have no tree, water or house damage. Unfortunately, not all of our neighbors fared so well, our community has lots of downed trees and school is out for the third day in a row. 

turns out that candlelight makes everything look quite lovely!

Harris was really worried about Halloween and as it turns out?  It has been cancelled for tonight!  The plan is to reschedule for Saturday night.  However, we will try to do something special tonight to celebrate anyway because we can't let Halloween go unnoticed!

Pumpkin Carving

Last night we had our annual pumpkin carving dinner while Frankenstorm starting gearing up outside!  Both the children were really excited to carve their pumpkins and can do most of the work by themselves.  Harris had a bit of disappointment with his large pumpkin since his nose didn't turn out the way he envisioned!

For dinner we had Harvest Stew (a recipe by Susan Branch) and served it in a pumpkin tureen!  I also served a salad with orange sweet tomatoes and pumpkin seeds.  It was very festive!

For dessert we had pumpkin pudding served in little Jack Be Little pumpkins!

 The finished pumpkins and their super cute creators!

Pumpkin Picking

On Friday, we went on a search for the perfect pumpkin!  We always enjoy going out into the field looking for the perfect one and this year was no different.  I love that this tradition celebrates autumn and Halloween all at once but in a rather simple way.  

Halloween Costumes 2012 (A Hamburger and The Hamburglar)

Once again my Mom has created adorable and beautiful costumes for the children.  She really does an outstanding job with the costumes, and I hope that the children realize how blessed they are to have a Grandma who is willing and able to put that much time and effort into their costumes!  Thank you Mom!

We had a little bit of a hard time coming up with costume ideas this year.  Once Grace decided to be a hamburger we brainstormed ideas for Harris (hotdog, french fries, etc.) but Harris wasn't excited about any of them.  He was even unsure about being the Hamburglar until we showed him a picture.  Once he saw the Hamburglar, he decided that wearing a cape, mask and being a "criminal" was a rather fun idea!

It's pretty funny how Harris "gets in character" as soon as he puts on the costume! He had a great time hamming it up for these pictures!

Baseball Invitations

Just yesterday Harris and I delivered the invitations for his upcoming birthday party.  Harris has a very specific idea what he wants to do this year for his birthday and it includes playing a game of baseball with his buddies.

For the invitation a baseball was the obvious choice.  I started out by drawing the stitches on the ball but then figured I might as well use real stitches on the card!  (I had lots of time sitting at Grace's ballet rehearsals!).

After I cut out the circles, Bryce drew on the stitches for me to embroider over.  It was useful to have an outline and any pencil markings were easily erased when I was done embroidering.  I used heavy paper and red embroidery thread.

I just happened to have little kraft paper bags that the invitations fit in perfectly.  Using a circle cutter I cut circles out of plain white sheet labels and drew on little stitches.  These were perfect to seal shut the envelope.  Baseball stamps (for those that were mailed) were a cute finishing touch!

Eyes in the Hedges

We have rather large hedges in front of our house and while they are not exactly beautiful boxwood hedges, they are valued by us for the privacy that they give.  Last year, I saw a print where eyes were peeking out of a row of hedges and it gave me an idea for some fun Halloween decorating!  I found some blinking eyeballs at our local party store and Bryce set them up in the hedges.  As soon as it gets dark outside they blink on and add a little Halloween cheer to our road!  

Photos by Al

Breakfast in a Jar

Just in time for cool fall mornings I've started making oatmeal in a jar for the children's breakfast.  I've found that these little jars are all kinds of wonderful because they are a quick, warm breakfast, they are perfect for wrapping little hands around to get warm and, in a pinch, they are portable!  

I saw the original idea and "recipe" at The Blueberry Moon.  I started out with her suggestions for amounts and then started altering things at the children's suggestions (a little more sugar, a little less cinnamon  etc.).  Also, we've made our own combinations up with different spices and add ins!  The dry ingredients are simply layered together in the jar.  I use 1/2 cup quick cook oats,  2 teaspoons of brown sugar and some sea salt.  I also use some sort of spice (cinnamon, pumpkin pie mixture, etc.) and raisins or dried blueberries.  When you are ready for breakfast,  add 1/2 cup hot water, screw the lid back on for five minutes and then breakfast is served!

I originally was going to use a chalkboard label to label each jar for the children but then I realized that I wouldn't be able to throw the jars in the dishwasher.  These labels work perfectly because they pop off easily and can be used over and over.

Apple Picking

Yesterday was a gorgeous fall day here and we decided to take full advantage of it by going to a local orchard and picking apples!  Fall has definitely arrived in our household!  Now, what to do with all those apples...

A Monster Knee Patch

Just in time for Halloween Harris has a "new" pair of jeans.  He had yet another hole in his jeans and instead of getting rid of them his Grandma put in a monster patch!  I had seen the idea for the patch on Pinterest and Mom just looked at the picture and made it happen.  Here are the directions for making the patch but be forewarned that it's not in English.  The pictures are probably clear enough though!